


Twelve Months In A Year

by firequakes



Category: KARA (Band), Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 09:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15883347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firequakes/pseuds/firequakes
Summary: The almost invisible transition between a barely-there courtship and the actual relationship.





	Twelve Months In A Year

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the bornalady Secret Santa 2011; originally posted [here](http://bornalady.livejournal.com/5248.html). There's some implied sexual stuff around the end, but it's a really short bit so I figured the rating doesn't really go beyond Teens.

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**5월**

Gyuri is the kind of person who, even in the pouring rain, drenched and looking like a drowned ferret, will keep her nose high and her chin up. Image, after all, is very important, and she’s always believed that as much as possible, one should never let anyone show any form of vulnerability.

This is the exact scenario when she first meets Hyukjae.

It’s pouring pretty hard, because the rainy season has arrived a few weeks early; Gyuri’s folding umbrella is broken, and in a fit of frustration she throws it away in the first public trash can she sees. She’s waiting, at a crosswalk two blocks away from her apartment, for the pedestrian light to turn green.

She’s thinking about how it’s going to be a bitch to dry her sneakers out when the rain suddenly stops hitting her directly on the face. She turns sideways and realises that the man now standing next to her has decided to share his umbrella.

“Um.” She stares up at him, He’s not that tall, but height has always been the one physical thing that God had deprived Gyuri of. “Do I know you?”

She knows she probably shouldn’t be snippy, especially since the guy is just being generous with his umbrella, but she’s in a terrible mood and she just needs to lash out. She groans inwardly as she realises at the back of her head that her notes from her one class that day are probably ruined now, although, she figures, at least she decided against bringing her laptop to school that morning. He grins at her, a little goofy, and she notices how his ears kind of stick out; his hair, shaved at the sides, isn’t really helping with that.

“3-B, right?” He asks her. “I live across the hall from you.”

She continues staring at him, trying to place his face. She only really moved in two and a half weeks ago, but she’s been so busy with university and her part time job that she hasn’t really had time to mingle with the building’s other tenants. Apparently  _he_  has seen her around though, at least if he’s telling the truth.

The light turns green, the cars stop, and they’re suddenly both hurrying across the street. His hand is on her back, and Gyuri wants to make a comment about that, especially since she doesn’t even know his name yet. But even Gyuri knows that that could probably wait until they get to the other side of the road.

He leads her towards a building, and they stands under the side roof of a convenience store, watching as the rain goes down even harder.

“Hi, I’m Lee Hyukjae,” he says, smiling widely at her and holding his hand out.

Gyuri’s eyes narrow, as she regards him suspiciously. His smile never wavers and Gyuri is forced to tentatively shake his hand.

“Park Gyuri,” she answers, nodding at him.

He retracts his hand immediately runs it through his hair as he stares at the pouring rain. 

“It’s just getting stronger,” he observes. “Do you want to make a run for it,” he cocks his head towards the direction of their (at least Gyuri assumes it’s  _theirs_ , unless he’s totally pulling her leg and they’re not really neighbors) apartment building, “or should we just wait it out?”

“Uh.” Gyuri glances at the rain. She really just wants to go home, but with the way the water is pouring it’s starting to look like she doesn’t really have any choice. Gyuri shrugs.

Hyukjae nods and smiles at her. “Come on, let’s wait it out inside the convenience store. I’ll do a little light snack shopping while we’re at it.”

He holds the door open for her, but Gyuri has no idea why she actually follows him inside.

 

 

 

 

**6월**

“It’s weird how often I am suddenly running across you now,” Gyuri comments when Hyukjae exits his apartment the exact same moment that Gyuri locks hers.

It’s a little over two weeks after that one rainy afternoon, and Gyuri has seen him at least once a day almost every day since; which is only really weird since she had no idea he was the guy living across her until that very day.

Hyukjae laughs. “I’m in your life now.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her. “In your head.”

Gyuri makes a face at him, and he just laughs even more.

“Off to school?” He asks.

She nods, shoving her house keys into her bag. She looks up at Hyukjae, hesitating. She has no idea what he does—if he’s still in school, or if he has a job, and she really doesn’t want to ask and act like she’s actually interested in his life, but the truth is she’s been wondering for a while now.

“You?” Curiosity wins. Gyuri at least tries to sound nonchalant about it.

“Oh, I’ve been done with school since last year.” Hyukjae grins at her, and they both start walking towards the stairs. “I work from home, mostly. I’m a writer.”

Gyuri’s head snaps towards him, surprised. He didn’t really look like anyone who knew his way around computers. “You don’t look like a writer.”

Hyukjae laughs. “I’m full of surprises.”

Gyuri snorts. “Yeah, okay.”

Hyukjae ducks his head, and suddenly flashes her an embarrassed smile. “To be honest, I write mostly web content articles. It’s the most dragging job in the world, but it pays the bills for now.”

There’s something about the way he says  _for now_  that speaks to Gyuri. She can tell he means it, that one day he’s going to do something that he loves, and he’s going to earn money doing it.

“I teach dance to kids part time,” Hyukjae continues, and the smile on his face is more genuine at that. “Weekends, and Thursday afternoons.”

Gyuri can tell that’s what he really wants to do; she wishes him luck with that.

“So, how about you? What are you majoring in?” He asks.

“Theater,” Gyuri answers.

“Cool!” Hyukjae seems genuinely impressed, which, for some reason, pleases Gyuri a lot. “When you have a stage performance, save me a ticket or something.”

 

 

 

After several casual run-ins with each other, even in the streets, she finally asks—

“Are you stalking me?”

He blinks at her, obviously surprised at the question, and she feels a little rash and guilty. She attempts an apologetic smile, and he scratches the back of his head, embarrassed.

“Sorry,” she says, and she means it. She laughs awkwardly. “There was kind of someone at my last apartment. He was a bit of a stalker. Kinda leery.”

It’s not a lie at all—she really did have a borderline creepy neighbor who was into her at the last place she stayed at. It was part of the reason why she’d wanted to get out of there fast; that plus the fact that the place, while super cheap, was an hour away from her university.

“Okay, maybe once or twice, when I’m out, and I realise it’s almost time for you to go home, I wait a little by the convenience store down the street so we can walk home together,” Hyukjae admits. He looks really embarrassed. “I thought it would be nice, you know? To be friends with the girl from across the hall. It really wasn’t hard to figure out that you get home around 4PM on Tuesdays.”

Gyuri peers at him suspiciously. He looks so awkward and embarrassed, but he also seems to be trying so hard to look her straight in the eye so she’d believe.

“I’m not a stalker, I promise!” He exclaims, and his face is so red. “I’m not leery either! I think?”

Gyuri bursts out laughing. She doesn’t know why, she just does. Maybe it’s because of the frantic look on his face. 

“So, that time, when it was raining?” Gyuri asks. “You were waiting for me?”

“Oh, no! I was out with a friend that day,” Hyukjae explains. “I promise! I’ve seen you around here, once or twice, and you were soaking wet, I just wanted to help you out.”

He has a way of speaking that’s easy to believe, Gyuri realises, because she doesn’t think he’s telling lies. In fact, she thinks he seems somewhat incapable of telling actual lies.

“Okay,” she says finally, smiling.

“Okay, we’ll be friends?” Hyukjae says. His tone is confident and teasing, but Gyuri can see that the tips of his ears are still red.

“Okay, let’s do the good neighbor thing,” Gyuri clarifies, her smile spreading even more on her face despite herself.

 

 

 

She calls him ’Hyukjae-ssi,’ because it’s the correct and formal way. 

“Let’s drop the formalities,” Hyukjae says. “Donghae on the floor above us just calls me Hyukjae. Let’s be neighbors like that.”

“Okay.” Gyuri raises an eyebrow, “ _Hyukjae_.”

“We're the same age though. Jieunnie, the teenager who lives with her grandma in the second floor, calls me oppa,” Hyukjae volunteers with a sly grin. “I’m older than you, aren’t I?”

Gyuri snorts. “Hyukjae-ssi, then.”

Hyukjae laughs, shaking his head. “You’re a difficult woman.”

“Well, you’re getting to know me pretty well.” Gyuri smiles, and then she adds, “ _Hyukjae-ssi_.”

Hyukjae groans. “Right. Okay. Gyuri-ssi.”

He smiles at her, and Gyuri thinks it’s a little bit contagious.

 

 

 

Hyukjae is even more ridiculous the first time he asks for her phone number.

“So, we’re doing the good neighbor thing, right?” He reiterates one morning when they’re both going through their mail. “That kind of means being sort of... like family.”

Gyuri stares at him strangely. He sounds like he’s just rambling, spouting off words that should make sense together, but is just sounding like gibberish coming from his mouth.

Gyuri snorts. “Not really,” she almost says, but he beats her to speaking first.

Hyukjae whips out his hand phone from his pocket and shoves it into her hands. “Here,” he says. “Save your number in my phonebook.”

She gives it to him, out of amusement if not anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

**7월**

Hyukjae seeks her help in looking for a present when two of his former seniors at school throw a joint birthday party. 

“Seriously, you’re asking me?” She blinks at her.

It’s 10 in the morning, and he was standing in front of her doorway, looking at her with pleading eyes. 

“Jungsoo-hyung I can do on my own, but Heechul-hyung is kind of really picky, and he will cut my eyes out if I disappoint with my gift,” he explains. “ _Probably_. Please? I'll owe you big.”

Gyuri laughs. “You’re just trying to spend more time with me, aren’t you?” She asks.

“Why are  _you_  always trying to get me to flirt with you?!” He tries to say it in a teasing way, almost like he’s brushing her off, but the tips of his ears are visibly red—Gyuri realises that’s his tell.

For someone she’s only vaguely known for a little over a month though, Hyukjae is kind of really hard to say no to.

“Alright,” she gives in. “Give me twenty minutes to get ready.”

 

 

 

“So, when’s  _your_  birthday?” Hyukjae asks, while they’re at the mall, window shopping for things that Hyukjae can get his friends as presents.

“Hm.” She’s looking at the label of a wine bottle—Hyukjae thinks he should just get Heechul a bottle, but apparently he knows absolutely nothing about alcohol because he doesn’t really drink. Gyuri finds this absurd, but she isn’t really going to pry.

“Come on, I’ll pick out something nice for you when the day comes.” He’s grinning at her enthusiastically.

Gyuri chuckles. “Are you going to ask for my help in picking one out too?”

“No!” He exclaims, scratching his head. 

Gyuri laughs. “You’re flirting with me again.”

“You  _wish_.” Hyukjae frowns.

Gyuri pats his shoulder, suppressing an amused smile. “I just celebrated. Remember that day in the rain?”

Hyukjae nods.

“That was my birthday.”

Hyukjae makes a face. “That was a sucky day.”

Gyuri snorts. “Yeah, well, it was just another day.”

“Do you want to go with me to this birthday party?” Hyukjae suddenly asks, like he’s trying to make up for something.

He looks so eager and anxious, that it makes her laugh; he looks at her expectantly.

“No,” she says. His face falls a little, and she realises he was totally serious with the invite.

Gyuri smiles, she’s actually feeling a little apologetic. “Sorry, I can’t. I’m busy on that day. The 10th right?”

Hyukjae shrugs. “Oh, well, next time.”

Gyuri thinks she might just oblige him  _next time_.

 

 

 

A week or so after Gyuri goes with him to buy gifts, she cashes in on the favor owed by showing up on his doorstep, and asking him to go grocery shopping with her.

It’s the weekend and she’s spent the last three days getting coffee from Starbucks, because she’s all out of ground beans, and it’s not like her fridge is well-stocked either.

She knocks on his door at 10 in the morning, and he answers, eyes heavy, and hair dishevelled. He’s obviously just woken, and she briefly considers backing out—she doesn’t know what possessed her in the first place and put in her head the idea of asking him to go to the grocery with her, of all things.

And then he smiles, more gums than teeth. “Good morning!” He greets her, and she remembers that she’s going to have to restock probably an entire month’s worth of supplies because she probably won’t have time to go shopping again for the rest of the month. It means she's going to need someone's help carrying all those shopping bags going back home.

“Want to go to the super mart with me?” She asks. “Come on, you owe me for that time I went to the mall with you.”

Hyukjae blinks at her. “I haven’t even had my morning coffee yet.”

Gyuri laughs. “Late night?”

Hyukjae nods. “Last night was the birthday party, remember?” He pauses, rubbing his eyes. “Do you have coffee at your place?”

Gyuri laughs and shakes her head. “No, which is why I need to go shopping.”

“Oh, right.” Hyukjae nods. 

He opens the door a little wider, and steps aside so Gyuri can come in. “I’ll get ready and then I guess I’ll go with you. I need to buy some food anyway.”

“We can stop by Starbucks on the way,” Gyuri offers.

“Are you treating?” Hyukjae asks cheekily.

Gyuri raises an eyebrow at him—she thinks that was a pretty bold comment.

She shakes her head. “I don’t think we’re at that level of friendship yet, where you get to ask me to treat,” she points out.

“But we’re at the level where we ask each other to go shopping at the last minute?” Hyukjae counters.

Gyuri laughs. “Precisely.”

 

 

 

 

**8월**

By the time summer is almost around, Gyuri and Hyukjae have somehow developed a casual routine to go with their casual friendship. It mostly involves Hyukjae dropping by unexpectedly on weekend afternoons, with cheap snacks and a DVD. 

“Do you play video games?” Hyukjae had asked the first time he did this.

“No, not really,” Gyuri had answered. 

“Oh, well,” Hyukjae sighed, a little dejected. “Donghae is busy with his new girlfriend, so he’s pretty much skipping our weekend video game dates. I have DVDs we can watch instead, are you busy?”

Gyuri had been in the middle of memorizing lines for a stage production at school, but she’d been doing that for the last four hours, and she’d felt that she deserved a break so she ended up agreeing.

It somehow keeps happening, which Gyuri finds weird because Hyukjae never really runs out of stories about various friends, so it makes her wonder why he doesn’t spend time with them instead. And then she realises that she isn’t really lacking in other friendships either, but here she is, willingly spending time with her funny-looking neighbor.

Sometimes Hyukjae will fall asleep halfway through the movie, after they’re done eating whatever snack he’s brought along and Gyuri will just leave him alone on her sofa while she works on whatever school work she has to finish.

Gyuri is mildly aware that it feels kind of domestic, which is weird considering they aren’t really a couple, nor does she want to be one with him, but if it’s not an issue with Hyukjae, then neither is it an issue with her.

She pushes the feeling far back into her mind and ignores it.

 

 

 

Seungyeon finds out about him when she meets him one Saturday when she comes over to return some text books she’d borrowed for the semester that just ended. They’re making small talk when Hyukjae barges in with a DVD and a packet of microwaveable popcorn on hand.

“We’re watching  _The Emperor’s New Groove_ ,” he tells Seungyeon after Gyuri introduces them. “You should join us!”

Seungyeon looks at Gyuri for some sort of approval, and she just nods— _why not_?

Hyukjae skips off merrily to her kitchen to get the popcorn ready, and it’s the first time Gyuri realises how familiar Hyukjae already is with her apartment.

“Didn’t know you had a  _someone_  in your life right now,” Seungyeon tells her, her tone part teasing, and part accusing.

Gyuri laughs. “He’s my neighbor, is all.”

“He’s cute,” Seungyeon says, flopping down on the couch. “And it’s cute that he comes over to watch Disney movies with you. Didn’t know you were into Disney movies.”

“He’s funny looking,” Gyuri remarks. “And movies are movies.”

Gyuri sits next to Seungyeon during the movie, and Hyukjae makes himself comfortable at their feet, with a big bowl of popcorn cradled in his arms. He blatantly flirts with Seungyeon during random intervals of the film, and Seungyeon does the same.

Gyuri ignores them for the most part, but it kind of amuses her how unbelievably shameless he is being—with her she’s bashful one second, cocky the next. It’s something she doesn’t really understand about him, and it surprises her, seeing the contrast, seeing how he can apparently be with other girls.

Seungyeon is calling him oppa by the end of the movie, and he scores her phone number before she’s out Gyuri’s door.

“You like her?” Gyuri asks when it’s just her and Hyukjae. 

He shrugs. “She’s okay.”

Gyuri laughs. “You think you’re such a Casanova, don’t you?”

“Is that bad?” He’s blushing now; he’s always like that with her and Gyuri can’t figure out how she feels about it.

“Yes,” she deadpans. “Yes it is.”

“Yah!” He cries out.

Gyuri bursts out laughing.

 

 

 

 

**9월**

He asks her if she wants to go to the beach with him and a bunch of his friends. It's not really that out of the blue of an invitation considering she's already had the opportunity to meet some his friends, like Donghae who lives in the apartment above hers, and Kyuhyun, who’s her age and frequently comes over to play video games.

“That’s the weekend right before school starts though,” she tells him.

Hyukjae’s face falls a little. “That’s even more reason to go!” He insists.

“Sorry,” Gyuri says.

“Let’s do something else then,” Hyukjae says. “Before summer ends.”

They end up taking a walk to the nearest park where they eat store bought kimbap while people-watching and just talking for an entire afternoon.

“You know,” Hyukjae tells her, “when I first saw you I thought you were an American.”

Gyuri laughs. “ _What_?!”

He grins at her, gobbling down a whole slice of kimbap. There’s a grain of sticky rice stuck to his cheek, but Gyuri doesn’t say anything about it, because she likes that he looks silly.

“You had that blonde hair remember? I thought it was natural.”

Gyuri thinks back—she  _was_  a bottle blonde during the first week after she moved; it had been for a presentation for one of her classes. She’d gone back to dark brown the same time she got a trim, around a week before her birthday.

“Well, kudos to my hair stylist then, if she made it look natural,” Gyuri retorts.

Hyukjae grins. “I wanted to welcome you, and say hello, but my English kind of sucks.”

Gyuri laughs—she’s heard him speak English by now, and he wasn’t lying. “I’m not really much better,” she says.

“No shit.” Hyukjae grins, nodding.

Gyuri instinctively slaps his arm, and he laughs. “So, how did you figure out I spoke Korean?”

“I heard you talking to the ahjumma who lives on the second floor once,” Hyukjae says.

Gyuri stares at him, narrowing her eyes. “I can’t believe I never saw you until that day, when it was raining.”

“Clearly you’re blind to the good things in life,” Hyukjae comments, his smile teasing.

Gyuri wrinkles her nose at him, and he leans back, laughing.

“You look different from this angle,” he suddenly says.

He’s still leaning back, cocking his head to the side; Gyuri’s brow creases. “I’m even prettier, huh?” She comments.

“Eh,” Hyukjae shrugs. “So-so.”

Gyuri kicks his shins, and Hyukjae flashes his winning smile at her.

 

 

 

“So, what is he?” Eunjung asks, when Gyuri makes the mistake of talking about him to her friend. “Is he your boyfriend? Are you dating? Do you like him?”

Eunjung is all ears, giggly and excited.

“No and no,” Gyuri answers. “And he’s my neighbor.”

“That last one didn’t exactly answer my question,” Eunjung points out, her smile mischievous. She pinches Gyuri’s side. “Hey, Park Gyuri, I thought you were mine, what is this about a boy?!”

Gyuri laughs, slapping her friend’s hand away. “Yeah I’m all yours, don’t worry,” she deadpans. It's a running joke between the two of them, and has been since Gyuri dumped her last boyfriend in the middle of their second year at university. “Darling, baby, my love.”

Eunjung grins. “Seriously though, do you like him?” She prods.

Gyuri shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe. I don’t chase after guys Eunjung, you know that.”

“Eeh.” Eunjung giggles. “I didn’t say anything about you chasing after him! I’m just saying—he sounds like he likes you.”

“You haven’t even met him.”

“Exactly,” Eunjung points. “If you talking about him makes me think that, then obviously at least your subconscious thinks the same.”

Gyuri just shrugs again. 

 

 

 

 

**10월**

Gyuri earns the spare key to Hyukjae's apartment when he locks himself out one afternoon, and he and Donghae have to work on jimmying the lock open.

“One day I’ll be able to afford living in an apartment that has electronic security,” Hyukjae mumbles under his breath.

And then he hands the spare to Gyuri as soon as they get in and he gets his hands on it. 

“Why are you giving it to  _me_?” Gyuri asks.

“You  _do_  live right across me,” Hyukjae points out, and Donghae nods accordingly.

“Donghae-oppa lives right above us!” Gyuri points out, but she’s already pocketing the key.

“Hey, wait—” Hyukjae makes a face. “Why does he get to be Donghae-oppa, and I’m still Hyukjae- _ssi_?!”

Donghae bursts into laughter, and Gyuri follows suit. “Fine, I’ll keep the keys for you,” she tells him, willfully ignoring his question.

 

 

 

Gyuri is at the point where she is trying to figure out exactly how she feels about Hyukjae. 

She figures she likes him, obviously, because she wouldn’t really spend the amount of time she spends with him, with a person she didn’t like. She’s pretty sure he likes her too, but what she doesn’t know, on both counts, is  _how_.

When she starts thinking it might be romantic, she also starts thinking that maybe she’s been listening too much to Eunjung, who, for all her tough exterior, is really just a giggly little girl inside.

She’s seen Hyukjae flirt—that one time with Seungyeon, lots of times with the cashier at the grocery, or the barista at Starbucks, sometimes even with the girl from the first floor who goes to an all-women’s university. He can be really smooth and confident if he wants, but, as she’s observed so many times, it is never like that with her. She’s not sure if it’s because he likes her more than everyone else, or if it’s because he sees her as just a friend and he doesn’t want her thinking otherwise.

She hates how he should be so obvious and transparent, but he isn’t. She hates complicated things, because as much as Gyuri wants to believe  _she_ ’s complex, she really likes when things are simple.

Either you like someone or you don’t, and either someone likes you or they don’t. She doesn’t give a fuck about the people who don’t like her, but she’s starting to think that she does care about the way Hyukjae likes her.

Gyuri wants to clear things up with him, but she’s never made the first move with a guy—she  _never_  makes the first move. She’s always believed that if someone likes her, then it’s up to  _them_  to prove themselves to her.

“The fact that you’re thinking about him this much is pretty telling if you ask me,” Yoobin tells her.

Gyuri decides to turn to her best friends from high school, just so she can hear from a point of view that isn’t Eunjung.

Younha just nods in agreement with Yoobin.

“I’m not really  _asking_.” Gyuri rolls her eyes.

“ _Right._ ”

 

 

 

Gyuri finally tunes her pride down a little and decides to confront Hyukjae—she’s always been a pretty straightforward person after all.

She's silently debating with herself whether she's going to knock, or just use her to key to get into his apartment, when the door suddenly swings open.

Hyukjae is all dressed up, his face lighting up when he realises Gyuri is standing there.

“Big date?” Gyuri finds herself asking.

Hyukjae beams, ducking his head a little—something he does, Gyuri knows by now, when he's feeling a little embarrassed. "Guess so."

“Have fun,” Gyuri says, a little awkwardly, which is very unlike her.

“Of course, I always have fun.” Hyukjae grins. And then he realises that Gyuri was about to knock on his door. “What did you need, by the way?”

Gyuri shrugs. “Was going to, uh—” She isn’t really at a loss for words often, and she hates it.

“You just wanted to hang out didn't you?” Hyukjae cuts her off, teasing.

Gyuri rolls her eyes. “Sure. I needed someone to read lines with for an upcoming production at school.”

“Oh, hey! I'd do that with you, definitely,” Hyukjae assures her. “I'll drop by tomorrow.”

Gyuri nods at him.

There's that then. If he's off going on dates with other girls, that should pretty much answer the question she was going to ask.

Gyuri really hates that she’s bothered—this is not her.

 

 

 

 

**11월**

Gyuri finds herself face to face with a huge flower bouquet, and Hyukjae's happy face. She takes a quick glance at his ears, now covered with his longish, floppy hair, but she still notices that the tips are a light shade of red.

She's very amused.

“Happy Pepero Day!” Hyukjae says, practically shoving the flowers into her arms.

Gyuri is confused. “These aren't... Pepero though?”

Hyukjae laughs and holds out a box of chocolate almond Pepero sticks towards her. “Yeah, but these are.”

Gyuri laughs, even though she has no idea what's going on. “Thank you?”

“Are we friends again now?” Hyukjae asks.

Gyuri looks at him quizzically. “Did we stop?”

“Well.” Hyukjae's laugh is kind of forced, a little stilted. “You've kind of been cold since Donghae's Halloween party.”

Gyuri blinks, trying to remember what happened that night, and then she laughs. Mostly she'd just been avoiding Hyukjae at large, irrationally annoyed because  _she_  was confused.

“Is it because I said you should be Sailor Moon for Halloween?” Hyukjae asks, looking absolutely serious and earnest. “I thought all girls loved Sailor Moon. You were a pretty cowgirl though.”

Gyuri snorts. “Are you serious? Why would I be upset about that? How old are we, ten?”

Hyukjae chortles, still a little forced. He shrugs.

Gyuri smiles. “I was just in a crappy mood that night.”

Hyukjae smiles, a little tentative, but more genuine. 

“So I warrant flowers now?” Gyuri asks, sniffing the bouquet. They're carnations.

“I. Uh. Uhm. Well.”

There's a brief moment of pregnant silence; Gyuri raises an eyebrow. Hyukjae breaks out into a modest smile.

“You always warrant flowers,” he says. His cheeks are the deepest shade of red Gyuri has ever seen on him.

Gyuri attempts a cocky smirk, but she honestly feels a little flushed as well. “Thanks.”

 

 

 

“So  _now_  what is he to you?” Eunjung asks when she learns about the flowers.

“I’m not really in the market for a boyfriend right now,” she says. “Relationships are too much work.”

“And yet  _you’re_  the one using words like ‘boyfriend’ and ‘relationship’ here,” Eunjung says, grinning.

Gyuri just stares at her blankly.

 

 

 

Hyukjae makes the most pathetic attempt to put his arm around Gyuri the next time they hang out together.

They’re at the cinema, and Hyukjae tries to do it so nonchalantly that it doesn’t work at all, precisely because he  _tries_  a little too hard.

Gyuri almost wants to hide her face out of embarrassment for him. His hands are sweaty when she reaches for her hand on the walk home, and Gyuri almost laughs, because  _seriously_ , is she back in high school?! It's even more ridiculous when one considers that Hyukjae is the older one.

“Are you like this around all girls?” Gyuri asks finally, before they part ways at her doorstep. 

“Like what?”

Gyuri shrugs. “I hear you’re supposed to be all cool and smooth around the ladies.”

“W-what?!” Hyukjae exclaims.

Gyuri laughs. “Jungsoo-oppa talks you up sometimes.”

Hyukjae stares at her. “When did you even have time to talk with Jungsoo-hyung? And about me?!”

Gyuri is just laughing. 

Hyukjae sighs. “Look, I... I like you, okay?”

“That’s nice.” Gyuri smiles. “I like you too.”

 

 

 

 

**12월**

Hyukjae goes out 'drinking' (quotation marks included, since Gyuri knows he doesn't really like alcohol) with all of his single friends on Christmas Eve, while Gyuri, due to Seungyeon’s insistence, attends a party thrown by one of their theater classmates. She has always been aware how much of a couple holiday Christmas is, but it’s the first time that fact has actually made her feel a little lonely.

She’s pretty annoyed when Seungyeon leaves her side in favor of some guy she has been flirting with all semester long, and she practically smashes the number keys on her phone when she calls Hyukjae.

 

 

 

Hyukjae kisses better than he looks he would, Gyuri realises. She has to tiptoe a little so she can wrap her arms around his neck, but then he bends over a little, and they’re the perfect complementary height.

“W-what?” Hyukjae asks, a little out of breath, pulling away a little.

“Oppa,” Gyuri murmurs. He flinches a little at the word, obviously not used to hearing it from her. “Hyukjae,” she says instead, a little more firmly. “Shut up.”

She sees him swallow silently, but then his face moves back down towards her and they’re kissing again. Gyuri is a little breathless when he pulls away again, but she doesn’t really want to stop kissing him, so she tries to pull him back.

But then she realises that he’s taking off his t-shirt, and it’s  _her_  turn to swallow silently. He is skin and bones under his shirt, even skinnier than Gyuri thought he’d be, but he doesn’t seem that fazed by it, at least until he realises that Gyuri is staring.

“Um.” He consciously covers his front with his t-shirt, which Gyuri finds, for some reason, ridiculously adorable. She leans in and gives him a quick peck on the cheek, and then she takes a step back and starts unbuttoning her blouse. 

By the time they fall into bed together, Gyuri is completely down to her underwear. Hyukjae’s pants are unbuttoned, and he’s trying to clumsily get them off completely, which is proving to be a chore, considering he can’t stop kissing Gyuri.

“Do you have...?” Gyuri trails off.  _Protection_ , is the missing word.

He nods, pulling away and reaching for his pants, discarded on the floor after finally getting them off. He magically procures one from, Gyuri assumes, his wallet. 

She raises an eyebrow. “Always ready, huh?”

“ _Always_.” He kind of smirks, which almost makes Gyuri laugh. 

It amuses her to no end, that even in the middle of sex, one minute he can be so adorably self-conscious, and the next so confidently smug.

“Shut up,” Gyuri groans instead, and helps him put on a condom.

 

 

 

 

Hyukjae is already awake when Gyuri opens her eyes. He’s sitting on the bed next to her, hugging his legs close, his chin resting on one of his knees.

He’s not looking at her, but Gyuri has to briefly wonder if he was before, until she started stirring in her sleep. She smacks his leg lightly.

He looks down and grins at her. “Your room is a pig sty,” he remarks.

Her reaction is somewhere between a groan and a laugh, muffled by her pillow as she buries her head in it. She sighs and turns her head towards him and sticks her tongue out. It’s childish and unlike her to do that, but it’s somehow appropriate with him.

“Not everyone is a closet neat freak like you,” she comments.

He just laughs. “Merry Christmas,” he greets her.

Gyuri covers her face with her hands to hide the smile that’s tugging at her lips. She feels really happy, but she’s not sure why, so she doesn’t really want to have to explain why. She takes another deep breath.

“I’m hungry, let’s have breakfast.”

 

 

 

 

**1월**

“Do you know? I’ve liked you since Day One.”

Hyukjae is smiling when he says it, but his eyes couldn’t meet hers directly.

“What, you can’t say that to my face?” Gyuri calls him out on it, laughing.

Hyukjae just keeps smiling sheepishly. 

Gyuri looks at him curiously. “So... since you thought I was some American slumming it down in this less than stellar apartment complex?”

Hyukjae laughs. “You were beautiful, and I wanted to get to know you.”

Gyuri raises an eyebrow at that; she’s not impressed—she’s heard that she’s beautiful a thousand times. “You’re shallow,” she berates him.

Hyukjae snorts. “I’m not trying to deny that.”

Gyuri bites the insides of her cheek, her eyes narrowing at him. She’s admittedly a little disappointed.

“I had no idea how to talk to you,” Hyukjae continues, “and then that rainy afternoon happened, and somehow we became just friends, and by the time I got around to liking you again, I was kind of scared.”

Gyuri holds back laughter. “Scared?”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae admits, his smile wide, but bashful. “I knew you too well to know how to flirt with you. Whenever I attempted to flirt with you, half of me felt like I was making a huge idiot of myself.”

Gyuri is laughing hard now. “You kind of were, for the most part,” she retorts, and Hyukjae’s blush gets redder. “Hey it worked out, Hyukjae-ssi. Smile, it’s a new year.”

“Yah!” Hyukjae exclaims, making a face at her.

And then the two of them are laughing, sinking down into the couch together.

 

 

 

Hyukjae is with her when she gets the invitation to Sunghee’s wedding in the mail.

“Who’s she?” Hyukjae asks, looking over her shoulder as she opens the pretty looking invite.

“A junior from school,” Gyuri explains. “A really good friend, actually.”

“And she’s getting married already?” Hyukjae asks. “Must be true love.”

Gyuri laughs until she realises that Hyukjae is absolutely seriously. “You believe in true love?” She asks.

“Sure, don’t you?” Hyukjae’s smile is so earnest that it almost hurts. “I think it’s nice that she’s found someone that she thinks she could spend forever with this early on during her life.”

She stares at him, unsure if she finds it naively cute or naively stupid.

“When I was younger I thought I would’ve found the woman I would settle down with forever by this age.” Hyukjae grins at her. “Don’t you ever think about that?”

Gyuri just laughs and shrugs it off. 

“It’s because you’re old,” Gyuri comments, like she thinks that Hyukjae is talking crazy talk. “I’m too young for that. Forever young.”

“What are you, a vampire?” Hyukjae jokes.

Gyuri laughs and tells him he has Twilight in his head, but the truth is, Hyukjae talking about true love and settling down freaks Gyuri out for reasons she doesn’t really want to delve into and understand at the moment.

 

 

 

Also the truth: everything about Hyukjae confuses Gyuri, even now that they’re together. 

Well, at least as far as she can tell they’re together, there never was a formal sit-down talk between them, rehashing and explaining exactly what they are to each other. Maybe that’s part of why things are confusing to her.

Hyukjae isn’t even her usual type to begin, but here she is, with him, and the last month has been happier than she ever imagined it could be with him—implying that she’s been imagining her and him together, which is something else she doesn’t really want to think about.

Gyuri misses when dating was simpler. When the boys chased after her, and that was that.

 

 

 

Hyukjae gets to meet Jiyoung, who Gyuri used to tutor, when the girl drops by to visit. She's like a little sister to Gyuri, which is what she tells Hyukjae.

He's warm and open towards Jiyoung, cracking silly jokes and saying stupid things like he usually does, and they talk and talk about comics, which Gyuri isn't really that familiar with. She gets a little annoyed, and even after Jiyoung leaves ("Nice meeting you, Hyukjae-oppa! Thanks for lending me this volume of One Piece!”), she remains very short with Hyukjae.

He, on the other hand, is just really visibly confused.

She has never been a hysterical or irrational girlfriend; she’s always done the dumping before because some of her boyfriends were too clingy, as a matter of fact.

It takes both Yoobin and Younha to make her realise that she’s freaking out.

Over a  _guy_.

“Well this is new,” Yoobin comments, obviously holding back laughter. “And highly amusing.”

Younha doesn’t even try to hide that she finds it funny.

 

 

 

 

 

**2월**

Hyukjae shows up at her university one afternoon, timed right after her last class for the day, bundled in layers of winter clothes, and cup of coffee in hand for her.

“I think it might be a little cold now though,” he says. “Or room temperature. And considering the current room temperature is freezing... I'm really sorry.”

He is smiling apologetically, earnest and eager, and Gyuri feels a little guilty that all she wants to do is question him.

“Why are you here?”

“Um, I missed you?” He tries to say it lightly, like he doesn't really mean it, but his ears are the usual tell-tale red, and Gyuri is torn between feeling pleased and frustrated.

She still has no idea what is going on with herself.

 

 

 

Gyuri starts acting mildly distant, making excuses so she doesn’t have to see him, or deal with him for long periods of time. 

Hyukjae is obviously hurt.

 

 

 

“You are being ridiculous,” Seungyeon informs her, and Gyuri wants to snap back that she knows that perfectly well,  _thank you_.

Seungyeon just smiles at her as if to say that it’s all going to be okay. “It’s good to be out of control every once in a while,” she says. “It's not like it's your first relationship anyway.”

Gyuri's forehead crinkles. She's not sure about what Seungyeon is saying—that's how she's lived all of her life. Always in control, and mostly about the image she projects. She's not beyond letting her guard down around certain people, but that list isn't exactly that long. Hyukjae is not her first boyfriend, but the thing is she's still not sure if she's ready to add Hyukjae to that list.

She isn't sure what's stopping her.

“Don't over think,” Seungyeon tells her. “Your face looks ugly when you over think.”

Gyuri glares at her.

 

 

 

“For me?” Hyukjae asks when she hands over chocolates on Valentines’ Day. “Are you sure you’re not lost?” He’s trying to sound sulky, like he’s still annoyed about her recent cold treatment, and she wouldn’t really blame him if he really was, but he was also failing to hide the obviously pleased smile quickly spreading on his face.

“Well if you don’t want them...” Gyuri moves to take them back.

“No!” Hyukjae says immediately, holding onto them. “Well,” he smiles mischievously, “I’ll take it if you give me the cutest, most cloying apology you can muster.”

Gyuri glares at him. “Who is apologising for what?”

“Well, okay then.” Hyukjae frowns, holding the chocolate out back towards her.

Gyuri sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose with frustration.

Hyukjae grins. “Have you ever even acted cute for any of your boyfriends before?”

Gyuri looks up, and raises an eyebrow. “So that’s what you are? My boyfriend?”

Hyukjae blinks at her. “A-aren’t I?” She finds it highly amusing that  _now_  he’s stuttering. “I kind of tell people you’re my girlfriend.” He pauses uncertainly; he looks like he genuinely thinks he might have been wrong. “...Should I not?”

The expression on his face kind of melts Gyuri’s walls, and she laughs affectionately. “I guess that’s what I am.”

Hyukjae pulls the door open wider. “Want to come in?” 

Gyuri takes one step past him. “I’m sorry,” she says.

He smiles at her. “I’m making lunch, want some?”

It’s like she hasn’t just spent the last two weeks practically ignoring him.

 

 

 

The talk of marriage and settling down somehow comes up again, and Gyuri finds herself actually listening to Hyukjae without conjuring some sort of irrational feeling in her gut.

“I want to be able to provide for my family perfectly,” Hyukjae muses. “If I could have my way, I’d spoil her and our children, and she would never have to lift a finger ever.”

Gyuri shakes her head at him. “I could never stop working. I need to know that I’m earning my keep. That I’m doing my fair share.”

“Oh god I didn’t mean you should!” Hyukjae says, making a cross with his arms. “I-I mean—” and suddenly he’s stammering again. “Um shit I didn’t mean to imply that you and I are going to end up together and get married or—”

He’s so flustered and Gyuri laughs and laughs and laughs at his funny, confused expression. Hyukjae finally just holds his head in his hands out of utter embarrassment.

Gyuri snorts. “Hey we’re just talking about what we want in life right?”

Hyukjae sighs, nodding, still a little red in the face.

Gyuri smiles at him, flicking a finger at his ears. 

“You know,” she murmurs, “you don’t have to always be so concerned about saying the wrong things.”

Hyukjae nods again, attempting a smile. He still looks adorably embarrassed to Gyuri though. 

“But you know,” Hyukjae starts to say, taking a deep breath. “We accommodate life. Opinions and ideas change. Like I used to think gays were the devil, but I also used to think that giants spilled bucket loads of salt into the ocean. Not to mention I used to believe Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was absolute reality. Also that Y2K was going to happen.”

Gyuri raises an eyebrow, daring him to make his point clear.

“A-and, well I’m just saying none of those ended up being true,” Hyukjae says. “As for dreams, I used to dream I’d be a professional football player, but that’s not really going to happen, you know? We accommodate life as we grow older, I’ll probably end up letting my wife and children do and believe whatever they want.”

Gyuri laughs.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s pretend that you surprisingly make incredible sense sometimes.”

“Well I  _am_  older and wiser.” Hyukjae wiggles his eyebrows at her.

“Yeah most days it's hard to believe that,” Gyuri deadpans.

“Hey!”

 

 

 

 

**3월**

“Happy White Day!”

Gyuri gets an assortment of sweet pastries and candies from Hyukjae, and honestly she’s pretty surprised.

“Are we really celebrating that?” She asks, amused.

“Okay, Happy Pi Day!” Hyukjae grins.

“That sounds incredibly nerdy and incredibly unlike you,” Gyuri teases. 

“I’m brains and beauty, how dare you imply otherwise?” Hyukjae sticks his tongue out at her.

“Do you even remember what ‘pi’ is?” Gyuri questions with a smirk.

“Yeah, it’s good when it’s apple,” Hyukjae says.

Gyuri laughs. “Thank you. Even though you’re obviously trying to make me fat with all these cupcakes.”

Hyukjae snorts. “As if you know what the word ‘diet’ means.”

“Are you implying I should?”

“If I wanted you to diet, I won’t give you fattening cupcakes would I?” Hyukjae asks.

“Okay, see, there’s that brief moment again when practical logic comes out of your mouth,” Gyuri teases.

“You’re beautiful, okay,” Hyukjae tells her. “Even more beautiful if you share those with me though.”

Gyuri laughs again. “You’re so cheap, asking to eat your own gift!”

 

 

 

They're eating pizza when Gyuri finally sorts it all out.

It's a Thursday night and Gyuri is going through her lines for another school production with him, and he's making funny faces and funny voices while he reads through the dialogue with her. And then he takes a bite out of his pizza slice (from pizza he bought, with all her favorite toppings, because he said he knew she was going to have a late night and he wanted to do something nice for her, and it's exactly her feelings when he does things like that, that Gyuri is trying to sort out), and the mozarella cheese stretches, and stretches even more when he pulls the food away from his face. And then his eyes cross when he looks at the string of cheese which suddenly breaks and sticks to his chin.

She's just watching him, amused, and she probably looks like she is spacing out, because Hyukjae suddenly stretches his legs and pokes her side with his bare foot. 

“Ew, your feet smell,” she retorts, wrinkling her nose and playfully pushing his legs away. She pulls her own legs up the couch and pokes him back with her own feet.

“And you have funny looking feet,” Hyukjae comments, grabbing her ankles. He makes a face. “What kind of person has a second toe that's bigger than her big toe?! You're an alien.”

Gyuri glares at him, but then he crosses his eyes again, and she bursts out laughing, and he follows suit, and then he's tickling her sides with his funny-smelling feet and—

She feels really happy, and she's starting to  _accept_  why.

 

 

 

 

**4월**

“What do you want to do today?” Gyuri asks him.

“You,” Hyukjae answers without missing a beat.

Gyuri makes a face at him. “That is so crass. What happened to the man who always turned crimson every time he tried to say something with a hint of even the vaguest innuendo to me?”

Hyukjae laughs. “You told him to stop worrying too much about saying the wrong things.”

Gyuri glares at him, and he slowly starts turning red.

“Okay, sorry!” he says, laughing sheepishly.

Gyuri snorts and wrinkles her nose at him. “You’re too easy sometimes. Seriously though, you’re one year older today, what do you want to do?”

“Spend time with you.” Hyukjae grins.

Gyuri rolls her eyes. “That line is incredibly cliché, what movie were you watching last night?”

Hyukjae laughs, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Porn.”

Gyuri jabs her elbow to his side, and Hyukjae’s face contorts in pain. “Serves you right,” she tells him.

Her mouth is a straight line, and she’s trying to look annoyed, but Gyuri is absolutely glowing with happiness.

 

 

 

Eunjung almost squeals with glee when Gyuri comes clean to her.

“Love is a strong word though,” Gyuri tells her, trying to calm her friend down. “I just said I might.”

Eunjung just smiles shakes her head at her, smiling affectionately. “It's a start.”

“You're so giggly and giddy about this,” Gyuri says, laughing. “Everybody thinks you're so cool and passive and no one has any idea you're really just an excitable thirteen year old girl deep inside.”

“You know half the school thinks we’re a couple,” Eunjung says. “And that I’m the butch, and you’re the femme.”

Gyuri cracks up. “Yeah, and now you’re just giving me away to some random dude.”

Eunjung laughs, nudging Gyuri playfully. “I’m really happy for you, though.”

Gyuri shrugs, trying to be all smooth and nonchalant. “Thanks.”

The smile on her face is unmistakable anyway.

 

 

 

 

**5월**

It’s raining on Gyuri’s birthday again, but it’s the weekend, and she’s free to sleep throughout the entire day if she wants to.

She wakes up to Hyukjae next to her on her bed.

“Damn global warming, huh?” Hyukjae retorts. “The rainy season started up earlier than usual again.”

Gyuri just laughs, still a little sleepy.

“Happy birthday,” Hyukjae greets her, smiling warmly.

“Thank you.” Gyuri smiles back.

“Do you realise it's been a year since we first actually exchanged words?”

Gyuri laughs. “Has it really been just a year?” She asks. “Feels like you’ve been a pain for so much longer.”

Hyukjae snorts, and Gyuri wrinkles her nose at him to indicate that she just kidding around.

And then Hyukjae suddenly takes a deep breath. “I love you.”

Gyuri blinks at him. “Uh.” She stares at him awkwardly.

Hyukjae smiles, embarrassed, but trying his best not to turn away.

Gyuri suddenly laughs.

“You know what? I love you too.”

 

 

 

 

//


End file.
